Consumers Embrace Social Media for Brand Feedback

But still more likely to address complaints to brands more directly

Many social network users are using channels such as Twitter and Facebook to discuss shopping decisions and experiences with their peers. Although often this means they are using social networks as another channel to hunt down the best deals, consumers are also turning to those sites to provide feedback about their experiences with brands.

ROI Research conducted a study that asked social network users why they discuss products and services on social network sites. The majority of respondents said that when discussing products and services, they are comparing prices and talking about sales and specials with their social network friends and followers. Fifty-three percent of the surveyed social network users said they provide feedback to the brand or retailer via social network sites—and 47% said they express disappointment with the brand when they see fit.

The ROI Research study points out that consumers voice complaints about certain verticals more so than others. Survey respondents listed household products, telecommunications and healthcare and pharma as top categories for expressing dissatisfaction on a social network. Sports-related brands, magazines and newspapers, and alcoholic beverages, on the other hand, received low levels of complaints. The travel industry ranked fairly low on the list—which may come as a surprise given the resources that many travel companies have devoted to responding to consumer feedback on Twitter.

A MarketTools survey focusing on customer satisfaction with US airline carriers indicates that although US travelers may be embracing social networks to express feedback more frequently than in the past, social media as a feedback or customer service channel is still nascent.

Many travelers are using social networks to let their friends and followers in on their travel woes. In fact, the MarketTools survey indicates one out of 10 US travelers has used social media to complain about an airline. Because the complaints are undirected though, they often go unanswered. The survey shows that only one out of four consumers who complained via social media got a response back from an airline.

Although travelers are voicing dissatisfaction to their friends via social media, few travelers actually use sites such as Twitter and Facebook to give direct negative feedback to airlines. Only 2% of travelers who had given feedback or complaints about airline service in the past year said they had done so via social media. Most travelers reached out to the airline customer service department through the website, email or phone.

Both studies demonstrate that while collecting and responding to feedback over social networks may be a new phenomenon for brands, there is room for growth. Listening and responding to complaints on social media also offers brands a chance to connect with customers in an additional channel, and to potentially increase customer satisfaction.

New Zealand Females Spend Significantly More Time Social Networking than Males

Comscore today released a study on Internet usage in New Zealand from its comScore Media Metrix service. The study found that Social Networking ranks as the leading online activity in New Zealand, accounting for 1 of every 5 minutes spent online in May. The study also found that females spent more time on social networking sites (5.4 hours per month) than males (3.7 hours per month).

“As one of the more mature markets in the Asia Pacific region, New Zealand is home to a digitally savvy audience base,” said Amy Weinberger, comScore vice president for Australia and New Zealand. “New Zealanders have a strong propensity to connect online, whether it is to other people through social networking or to content and information through access points such as entertainment and news destinations. Finding ways to reach and engage these audiences presents significant marketing opportunities to both local and global brands.”

Top Web Properties in New Zealand

In May 2011, Microsoft Sites topped the list as the most-visited web property in New Zealand, reaching 97 percent of web users age 15 and older in the country. Google Sites ranked second reaching 93.5 percent of visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites at #3 reaching 86.4 percent of users. Facebook.com saw the strongest engagement of the top 10 properties with visitors averaging more than 5 hours on the site during the month. Web properties based in New Zealand or Australia captured the next three positions in the ranking with Fairfax Media, APN News & Media and Trade Me all reaching more than half of the online population in New Zealand.

Social Networking Accounts for Most Online Minutes in New Zealand

When looking at how New Zealanders spent their time online in May, Social Networking led as the most engaging online activity accounting for 21.1 percent of all online minutes in the country. Portals followed in second at 14.3 percent of total minutes, with Entertainment sites ranking third at 12.1 percent of minutes. Rounding out the top 5 were the News/Information (6.8 percent of time spent) and Auctions (6.7 percent) categories.

 

 

Females More Prolific Social Networkers than Males in New Zealand

Further analysis of the Social Networking category showed that although males and females account for nearly the same percentage of visitors to the category, females exhibit far stronger engagement with the category. Overall, females averaged nearly 50 percent more time on Social Networking sites than males (5.4 hours vs. 3.7 hours). Females age 15-24 averaged the most time social networking at 7.4 hours per visitor, while males age 15-24 averaged 6.4 hours during the month. When compared to an average Internet user, females were 15 percent more likely to view pages on social networking destinations (Index of 115), while males were 16 percent less likely to consume pages (Index of 84).

 

Blogs influencing sales

 

A poll of Australians by blogging network, Nuffnang, has found that almost 90 per cent of respondants are swayed by blogger reviews.

While blogging is still relatively new in Australia, Nuffnang says it has seen an explosion of new bloggers in the last three years.

“It was no surprise to find out that 89 per cent of respondents are swayed by a blogger’s review of a product or service and want to go on to try it for themselves,” said David Krupp, Nuffnang’s country manager.

“This demonstrates the power of blogs for Australian brands’ marketing campaigns,” he said.

The survey found:

• 89 per cent are swayed by a blogger’s review of a product or service and would like to try it for themselves;
• 89 per cent make the purchasing decisions in their household and of these, 87 per cent have learnt about a new product or service via a blog;
• 81 per cent are noticing banner advertisements displayed next to the blogs they read;
• 90 per cent pass on blog information to family and friends;
• 92 per cent have used a search engine to find out more about a brand after reading about it on a blog post;
• 90 per cent are loyal to a brand once they find one they like;
• 65 per cent have entered a competition through a blog in the past 12 months;
• 78 per cent of respondents agree blogs are a better source of information than traditional and mainstream media; and
• 64 per cent of bloggers are between 18 to 34 years old.

“As the industry matures, we’ll see blogging become a mainstream medium as we’ve seen in other markets.

“Many bloggers start a blog for self satisfaction but quickly evolve this vision, hoping to become an expert or publicly recognised,” Krupp said.

SOURCE: Inside Retail Online – www.insideretail.com.au/IR/IRNews/Blogs-influencing-sales-1575.aspx

Maintaining Engagement on Large Facebook Pages

Boosting 'likes' and comments a balancing act as fan base grows

March 2011 research from link-sharing solutions provider Visibli found that among Facebook pages with at least 100,000 “likes,” engagement dropped as the number of fans increased. Each individual post by brands and media organizations received fewer “likes” as a proportion of the page’s fan base.

Similar data from social media engagement firm LoudDoor shows a more complex picture of how page size affects “likes” and comments per post. “Likes” increased with page size, except among pages with 2.5 million to 5 million users. On a per-user basis, “likes” began to decrease for pages with more than 100,000 fans, then rose again for pages with 1 million to 2.5 million followers. Larger pages had fewer “likes” per post per user, but the decrease did not correspond directly with page size.

Similarly, the number of comments per post increased with page fan base, with a few drops among pages with several million followers. The proportion of comments per user does go down with closer correlation to page size, but for both metrics there is a large drop-off when pages hit the 2.5 million fan mark.

Some of this effect could be difficult to avoid. Posts may still receive hundreds of comments, but the number of comments per user will inevitably be much lower when pages have millions of fans.

LoudDoor also noted that brands must be aware of the algorithms Facebook uses in determining which posts to present to which users in the newsfeed. The EdgeRank algorithm takes into account affinity with the content creator along with other factors. If page growth means that fans are becoming less similar to each other as more are added, and have less affinity for the brand, new posts may not even show up in their newsfeed—meaning they will never have the chance to engage with the brand there.

Security holes found in iPhones, iPad

A new security hole has opened up in Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, raising alarms about the susceptibility of some of the world's hottest tech gadgets to hacker attacks.

Flaws in the software running those devices came to light after a German security agency warned that criminals could use them to steal confidential data off the devices.

Apple, the world's largest technology company by market value, said on Thursday that it is working on a fix that will be distributed in an upcoming software upgrade.

With the security hole, an attacker can get malicious software onto a device by tricking its owner into clicking an infected PDF file.

Germany's Federal Office for Information Security called the flaws 'critical weaknesses' in Apple's iOS operating system.

Internet-connected mobile devices are still subject to fewer attacks than personal computer, but they could eventually prove a juicy target for hackers because they are warehouses of confidential banking, email, calendar, contact and other data.

Software vulnerabilities are discovered all the time. What makes the latest discovery alarming is that the weaknesses are already being actively exploited - albeit in a consensual way.

The latest concerns were prompted by the emergence of a new version of a program to allow Apple devices to run any software and circumvent the restrictions that Apple notoriously retains over software distributed through its online store.

There are security risks of doing so, but many people find it liberating to install their own software.

Although this program is something people would seek out, the weaknesses that its authors discovered could easily be used for malice, security experts say.

There is an irony in the controversy: The site distributing the program offers a fix for the problem, but to get the fix, a user has to first install the program in question. So a user must defy Apple's restrictions to get the protection until Apple comes up with a fix of its own.

Charlie Miller, a prominent hacker of Apple products, said it likely took months to develop the program to break Apple's restrictions, but a criminal might need only a day or two to modify it for nefarious purposes.

Apple spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd said Thursday the company is 'aware of this reported issue and developing a fix.' She would not say when the update will be available.

One reason for gadget owners to take heart: Attacks on smartphones and other internet gadgets are still relatively rare. One reason is PC-based attacks are still highly lucrative.

Still, vulnerabilities such as the ones Apple is confronting show that consumers should take care of securing their mobile devices as they would their home computer.

'These things are computers - they're just small, portable computers that happen to have a phone tacked onto them,' said Marc Fossi, manager of research and development for Symantec Security Response.

'You've got to treat them more like a computer than a phone. You have to be aware of what's going on with these devices.'

Social Network Comments Fuel Offline Behaviour

Comments on social sites about brands and products are encouraging users to take action

Social networks are becoming a part of everyday life for many users, and their offline habits are affected by their participation.

In November 2010, the Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed US social network users for the “Social Network Sites and Our Lives” report, released in June 2011, and found that 31% of social network users are on Facebook several times a day. Additionally, 21% of respondents use the site about once a day. This is followed by Twitter, which 20% of social network users check several times a day and 13% use about once a day.

As consumers use these social sites several times a day or week, they are also commenting on posts from friends just as often. The Pew study found that 26% of female Facebook users and 17% of male Facebook users comment on Facebook posts at least once a day. Further, the study found that 57% of female Facebook users and 48% of male Facebook users comment on posts at least once a week.

But social network users are not just responding on social media. The April 2011 “S-Net: The Impact of Social Media” study by ROI Research found that 60% of US social network users were at least somewhat likely to take action when a friend posted something about a product, service, company or brand on a social media site. Only 18% were not at all likely to take action.

The study doesn’t elaborate on what exactly respondents would do, but another question asked specifically what actions US social network users would be more likely to take after following a company or product on Facebook or Twitter. On Facebook, 53% of respondents said the top activities would be purchasing the brand or company’s product and recommending the company or product. For Twitter, the top activities were talking about the company or product (61%), recommending the company or product (59%) and purchasing the brand or company’s product (58%).

Fans or followers of a brand are influenced by what they see from these company accounts, but they are also influenced by what their friends say about brands or companies that they don’t necessarily follow. It’s another area for marketers to focus on—the reach they have and how their brand fans may influence their own friends and followers.

Twitter users send 200mn tweets a day

Twitter users are sending 200 million tweets a day, up from 65 million a year ago, the micro-blogging service says.

'For context on the speed of Twitter's growth, in January of 2009, users sent two million tweets a day,' Twitter said in a blog post on Thursday.

The San Francisco-based Twitter was founded in 2006. It has more than 200 million users.

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 13 per cent of the online US adults aged 18 and older use Twitter, up from eight per cent in November 2010.